


Be Free With Me

by celestialhan



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort, Emotional Healing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Needs A Hug, Happy Ending, M/M, Nightmares, Sadness, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, Sort Of, enemies to friends to something else, powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:15:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialhan/pseuds/celestialhan
Summary: After being recaptured and dragged back to Eichen House, the place he's been running from for years, Theo vows to do whatever he can to escape instead he finds himself being drawn towards Liam, someone who was deemed as a 'high-level threat' within Eichen.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65
Collections: 2019 Thiam Reverse Big Bang





	Be Free With Me

**Author's Note:**

> A link to my lovely artists tumblr who created a beautiful video that this story is based on.  
> Please check it out [here](https://underthegallowws.tumblr.com)  
> Check out the video [here](https://underthegallowws.tumblr.com/post/189779838848/be-free-with-me-by-celestialhan)

“…melting ice from Greenland, Antarctica, and glaciers elsewhere are driving up sea levels across the globe. Researchers say this could leave nearly 700 million people living in coastal areas at risk of flooding by the end of the century…” 

The continuous drone of the news fell over the dingy motel room, filling the room with monotonous background noise. Theo occasionally tuned into the noise, listening for anything that might be of interest to him, but it had all been just the usual - nothing he hadn’t heard a million times before. 

He had heard about more new laws against Inhumans, a debate about whether there should be more laws protecting Inhumans or more laws protecting people from Inhumans right after and more stories about climate change than he could count. All stories that would have alarmed him more if he wasn’t so wrapped up in his own mind, distracted watching the parking lot with unwavering concentration. 

The look of determination on his face coupled with the rest of his appearance made him look like a force to be reckoned with. His hair was mussed up, the red already gone and looking as if someone has recently tugged at it violently. His clothes were reduced to torn shreds and hung off his body in a way that revealed he had not eaten a proper meal in an eternity and the small cut on his cheek trickled fresh warm blood down his cheek. Theo could feel the ache in his jaw and with a found knowledge that the mirror would reveal a sight full of bruises blossoming across his jaw, dreadful hues of purple and blue amongst the already formed yellows that had made themselves known. Continuous, his leg bounced…over and over and over again. The rapid vertical motions that put him at ease but only for a moment – a nervous tick that was hard to get rid of (one he never had the chance to grow out of. He prodded gingerly at the tender skin around his cut wincing and gritting his teeth at the pain but never taking his eyes off the parking lot.

“…there is still no update on the escaped Inhuman…”

The words caught his attention immediately, his head jerking slightly, and Theo, reluctantly, dragged his now fading blue eyes away from the currently empty motel parking lot to watch the story of the escaped Inhuman, a bitter remembrance of the time his face was the one plastered across several news channels. Theo turned back to take one last suspicious look at the parking lot, an uneasiness dwelled in the pit of his stomach, that gut feeling of the inevitable. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. He couldn’t…something was off. 

He couldn’t take any risks of being caught, especially after he had drawn more attention than he liked with the fight he had had. He had already been forced to move around more than he usually did within a month and he knew they were catching up to him, more quickly than he expected. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how. Theo knew this meant he needed to change his appearance. 

Theo roughly tugged the faded, stained curtains drawing them fully closed, leaving the tv to bathe the room in harsh, cold blue light and plunging the room into semi darkness. He sat down on the edge of the bed, ignoring its creaks and moans of protest, and noted that even the semi darkness of the room couldn’t hide that the room looked worse for wear. 

It didn’t matter though – he knew he wouldn’t be there long. 

Theo ran a hand through his hair and mussed it up even more before heaving a heavy sigh. He needed to act quickly if he wanted to move on from the dingy motel room. With a swift movement, he grabbed his bag from beside the bed and began desperately digging through it, searching like his life depended on it because it did. Occasionally, Theo glanced towards the door as if he expected someone to burst through it any minute – never letting his guard down for a second.

After less than a minute of digging through his bag, Theo pulled out a small black pouch and unzipped it with an air of urgency and checked the syringes sitting inside the bag before rushing to the beaten down mini fridge. The door of the fridge swung open with a horrible squeak that made him wince and a vile smell of mould wafted out of the fridge as soon as its door opened. Unaffected, Theo peered at the vials of blood that sat within the fridge. 

The blood was his emergency store and he didn’t want to dip into them if he could help it, but he couldn’t risk leaving the city without a different look and unfortunately, that could only be achieved by changing his appearance with blood rather than touch. Taking another look at the blood vials, Theo moved the vials labelled strength and fire out of the way before grabbing a vial with the characteristic listed; blue eyes, blonde hair, small nose. 

Resigning back to the bed he hurriedly grabbed a syringe moving to fill it with blood to inject himself but abruptly stopped when he heard the sound of a car pulling up outside. The uneasy feeling in his stomach had never left him and Theo was immediately on edge, his breathing shallow and slower. 

He abandoned the blood and syringe on the bed and took small, soft steps towards the window. He slightly pulled aside the moth-eaten curtains, looked out and the breath caught in his throat and he almost stopped breathing entirely at the sight of a black SUV parked outside the motel room – his motel room. 

Theo was paralysed for a moment as he recognised the familiar looking SUV from his childhood. He remembered it well like it was just the other day. He remembered him and his sister, hand in hand, getting into the car the feeling of uncertainty in the pit of his stomach as he watched his parents through the tinted windows of the SUV talking to two government officials. He remembered the way his sister had squeezed his hand reassuringly as tears formed in his eyes threatening to fall when he realised his parents weren’t going to say goodbye to them. He clearly remembered everything that followed after, all the pain and misery and he didn’t - couldn’t - go back to that. 

But it was too late already. How had they even found him? It didn’t matter - there was no way he was getting out of it even with the blood he had. The sound of the car door being opened and closed dragged Theo out of his thoughts.

It was as if his mind went into autopilot, separating him from the situation but making sure he was doing everything necessary. He had a contingency plan – he knew he would have gotten caught at some point or the other. He just didn’t think it would be so soon. 

Theo shook his head – that didn’t matter – he needed to carry out his plan. He grabbed the vials of blood from the bed and took the rest of the vials from the fridge and rushed to the bathroom. With slightly shaking hands, he emptied the blood down the drain and let the water wash the deep scarlet colour away. He had been given the blood in good faith and he couldn’t allow the government to get their hands on it and potentially track down the individuals who had so graciously given him their blood despite the dangers. Even so, it still hurt to see the water wash away perfectly good blood.

As soon as Theo turned the rusted taps off there was a banging on the door. He was surprised they hadn’t kicked the door down and dragged him out forcibly, but it didn’t matter – he knew what he was going to do. 

As the incessant banging got louder, he hurried out of the bathroom. Theo took a deep breath, shook out his hands and legs, bracing himself for the fight he knew he was going to put up before stepping up to the door and reaching for the handle. With one last deep breath and the small click of the lock, Theo swung the door open.

\---

The metal door swung open with the familiar tiny electronic click of the lock that Liam had grown up hearing. Liam was sat up and sitting on the edge of the bed already – he knew what time of the day it was. He knew the routine by heart – it was like clockwork for him, nothing ever really changed or differed. He liked it that way, he didn’t really know any other way. 

The white-coated doctor strode across the room, the heels of his shoes echoing throughout the room, and held out a tray with the familiar white pills. Liam had no idea what they were, he had never thought to ask, he had just been told from a young age to take them by the doctors at the facility. Liam didn’t like them very much – they gave him headaches and made him drowsy – but he took them, nonetheless because that was what he had been told to do from a young age. 

After swallowing the pills dry, the white-coated doctor left the room the sound of his shoes now echoing down the hallway. The room door stayed open, but Liam made no move to exit the room. He couldn’t – not until the buzz of the cafeteria door down the hall had sounded. It was the routine and he couldn’t deviate from it. 

With almost robotic movements, Liam walked out of the room and down the hall towards the cafeteria as soon as he heard that buzz. Breakfast wasn’t his favourite part of the day; he didn’t like being around so many of the other patients, but it was a part of his routine.

The cafeteria was filling up quickly, patients glumly filing in and lining up for food, eager to get something to eat. Most morning were like this, a bustle of moving bodies and mouths everyone eating as much as they could before they were forced to resign back to their rooms to either be called for testing or be called to do menial tasks or be expected to uphold the façade of a rehabilitation centre to the rest of Beacon Hills. For most, breakfast lunch and dinner were their only reprieves. For Liam, it was just another part of his routine. 

After grabbing his food, Liam sat down in his usual space in the cafeteria. It was a spot away from the rest of the patients who all seemed to group together whenever they could, hoping for any semblance of normality in the situation they were in. He just preferred to be away from people – he thought it was safer that way, had been told all his life that it was safer that way. 

He took a spoonful of the sludgy porridge, having to swallow thickly to actually get the food down his throat. Liam was used to the food by now, barely remembering the taste of the pancakes his mum used to make for him, the memory seemed like a faraway dream, but as he looked around the cafeteria he could tell that some of the newer patients were still unused to it, pushing the porridge around in the bowl instead of eating it. 

Liam could always recognise newer patients. There were tell-tale signs like the looks of disgust and disappointment at the other patients, the small glimmer of defiance in their eyes, the constant fidgeting with their bracelets as they got used to having them permanently attached to their wrists and of course the absolute disgust for the food. 

He liked to think he was good at reading people, but he wasn’t. He was only really good at noticing things that didn’t fit his usual routine. Like the patient shaking so badly from the testing, the doctors carried out that she dropped her tray of food and had to have guards drag her out of the cafeteria, the group sitting behind him talking instead of staying silent like they usually did and the sound of a commotion at the other side of the cafeteria. That was different.

Liam turned slightly to stare at the commotion, wondering what was going on. Across the cafeteria, three guards were wrestling a patient to the ground. Nothing he hadn’t seen before, the newer patients always attempted something at some point, but this scene was different. Most patients attempted it and then realising the futility gave up pretty quickly. This patient refused to give up, even after being wrestled to the ground and pinned there. 

He was clearly a newer patient. He had a defiance that hadn’t yet been stamped out and the strength of someone who hadn’t been injected with so many experimental drugs that it left them a walking bag of bones. He also had a smile on his face, a maniacal sort of smile, but a smile, nonetheless. Liam hadn’t seen many of them from anyone other than the doctors but the doctor’s smiles were nothing like that.

He didn’t like it. Not at all. This patient was different, more different than any other patient that had come through the doors of Eichen. He was going to be trouble - was already causing trouble - and Liam knew deep down that his routine wouldn’t be the same, not with this guy now under the same roof as him. 

That thought and idea didn’t sit nicely with Liam. Slightly panicked and thrown off-kilter, Liam swiftly stood up and exited the cafeteria just as the white-coated doctor from earlier came running through the door to sedate the new patient. Liam felt more relieved and less panicked as he got further away from the commotion and more towards his normal routine. 

\---

Theo winced as he ran his tongue over his now split bottom lip, the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. His whole body ached; arms strained behind his back secured tightly by the handcuffs that had been placed on him. He had put up a huge fight, but he had been outnumbered and there wasn’t much he could do before they had handcuffed him with power dampening cuffs and shoved him into the back of a black van. It was a huge change from how he had first been brought to Eichen House, but Theo wasn’t entirely surprised – he had heard horror stories from people who had friends that had been taken mercilessly. 

“Hey! Watch it!” Theo growled as the van came to an abrupt stop at what he assumed was a stoplight – he was surrounded by the black walls of the van with no window for him to look out of. “Where did this idiot learn to drive?”

It was frustrating being made to sit in the back of a van for hours. The driver had no regard for Theo being sat in the back, taking sharp turns that made him scramble to keep his body from slamming into the opposite side of the van and driving unnecessarily fast on clearly pothole-ridden roads. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, and didn’t at all help his aching body.

It also didn’t help that it was turning out to be a very long drive. When he had first gotten out of Eichen he had wanted to stay in Beacon Hills in the hopes that his sister was still alive and would be coming to join him but as he grew up it got harder and harder to stay within Beacon Hills. Staying there was a constant reminder that his sister was either dead or still stuck at Eichen and it was also dangerous, he was always at risk of being caught faster the longer he stayed in Beacon Hills. In the end, Theo had chosen to move on and live in freedom like his sister had fought so hard for him to do. 

As the van jolted forward slightly, moving along the road again, Theo leaned his head against the van wall, closed his eyes and sighed. Exhaustion washed over him, urging him to nod off but just when sleep was on the fringes of claiming him he was jolted awake by a loud bang on the metal side of the van. The van had stopped moving and all of sudden Theo was blinded by the light as the door of the van was swung open and he was being hauled out of the van. 

Theo barely managed to land on his feet after being hauled out of the van, disoriented by his tiredness and the sudden light. He was barely given a second to gather his bearings before he was being pushed to walk forward. After blinking furiously, his eyes finally adjusted, and he could take in the sight of Eichen House all over again. 

It hadn’t changed at all. When he was younger he had stepped out of the car, hand in hand with his sister, and just stared up at the towering walls of Eichen. They had intimidated him back then. He had hidden behind his sister and allowed her to lead them through the rusted gates of Eichen House. 

Now staring up at the walls of Eichen, Theo was filled with a hollow sadness. The place just reminded him of his sister and as much as he dreaded being back at Eichen, he dreaded having to be constantly reminded of his sisters’ memory. The walls didn’t scare him anymore, neither did the gate nothing about Eichen scared him. He had been subjected to the horrors behind the door before, he knew what was coming and he knew he was ready. He’d grown up to be stronger, more resilient, a person he knew his sister would have been proud of. He knew he could handle whatever was thrown at him and if anyone at Eichen thought they could break him then they were sorely mistaken. 

Theo held his head up high as he walked through the washed-out halls of Eichen. There weren’t any other inmates in the hallways or their rooms – Theo assumed they must have all been having breakfast, it was one of the few times he remembered all the inmates ever all being together. Theo felt overwhelmed with a weird sense of déjà vu as he was led down the hallways and around corners. He remembered every corridor and door as if he hadn’t even left Eichen. He knew where they were leading him, could smell the strong smell of rubbing alcohol, could almost feel the weird effects of unknown medicine, could almost hear the faint buzz of the electroshock therapy machines. A feeling of dread settled over him – he had hated the tests the most. 

He was forced into a white dentist chair, the dampening handcuffs swapped for dampening bracelets and strapped down to the chair by his arms and legs. It was worse than how he had remembered it. That helpless feeling of just staring at the fluorescent lights as doctors buzzed around you talking as if you weren’t strapped down to a chair. 

“Ah, Theo Raeken. Patient number zero-one-one. I remember you.” Theo could see from the corner of his eye a doctor staring down his glasses at a thick looking file – why was it so thick? “Adaptation, power absorption and minor shapeshifting, was brought in with a sister…hmmm.” The doctor paused as a second doctor leaned in to whisper to him, he nodded with a grave expression on his face then abruptly closed the file and strode towards Theo. “Right, now let’s see what’s changed since we last saw you.” 

Theo hated it, hated how he was treated like a returning patient to a clinic when he was really a prisoner being tortured. He felt the cold sensation of rubbing alcohol being applied on the inside of his elbow before he felt the sharp scratch of a needle being inserted and the odd sensation of the blood being drawn from his veins. 

(Theo could hear his sister's voice in his head comforting him and whispering, “It’s okay. It’s just a few silly tests.”)

They carried out more general tests once they had withdrawn blood like checking his heartbeat, eyesight, general reflexes (as well as they could while he was strapped to a chair) and scans of his brain. None of the doctors said a word as they worked, scribbling down information as they went along. When the last scan was done, the doctor who had spoken to him earlier stood up. 

“Okay. I think we’re done for now. We’ll subject him to some electroconvulsive therapy later and take further scans of his brain then.” With that last syllable, the doctors in the room finished their notes and promptly left the room. The doctor who had spoken to him picking up his thick file and leaving the room with the rest of them. 

As soon as all the doctors had left, Theo was unstrapped and moved to another room. Now without handcuffs straining his arms behind his back, he was forced to change into grey cotton pyjamas and ugly trainers. He hated the uniform. It was just another smokescreen, a way to make it seem as if Eichen wasn’t a prison. The clothes he had been in were placed in a plastic bag and taken away by a doctor – he didn’t like that. 

“Uh, hello where are you taking that?” Theo called out after the doctor, but the doctor continued walking away as if she hadn’t even heard him call out. He stepped forward wanting to follow and ask where they were taking his belongings, but he was stopped by the two security guards blocking his path. Theo pushed against them, but they grabbed his arms tightly and he couldn’t do anything. “Where are you taking my shit? That belongs to me!” Theo shouted, angry and frustrated that he couldn’t move his arm. He struggled against the tight grip of the guards, earning him more and more bruises. His clothes had no real sentimental value to him, they were old and practically falling apart, but they belonged to him and were the last bit of freedom he had. 

The guards held him there until he stopped struggling and shouting before they let go of him and started pushing him to walk again. Theo knew they were leading him to the cafeteria, he could hear the bustle of people moving and talking. He still hadn’t gotten over his clothes being taken away. He just knew which fights were worth fighting at what time. 

The guards stopped him in the doorway of the cafeteria and the gruff voice of the guard on his right grunted, “Normally this is where we would leave you but since you’re such a menace we have the displeasure of following you around everywhere. So, don’t create any problems for us or you’ll regret it.” 

Theo snorted, amused at the fact that he had to be babysat. He grinned as he was pushed to walk into the cafeteria. It was busy in there, the perfect environment to create ‘problems’ for his two babysitters – the threat hanging over his head didn’t bother him at all. Eichen house was never going to beat him into submission. Theo turned to the guard on his right a smirk playing on his lips.

“So, just for clarification, what constitutes as a ‘problem’ for you?” Theo drawled out, raising his hands to mime finger quote marks. When there was no answer, the guard just rolled his eyes at him and turned his back to him, Theo pressed on. “Is this creating a problem for you?” 

Before the guard could even react, Theo rushed forward and jumped onto the guards back. He almost sent the guard, and himself, stumbling to the ground from the force of the jump but luckily, and unluckily, the guard just stumbled a few steps forward before he stabilised his footing and grabbed at Theo’s hands, trying to detach Theo from himself. However, Theo was not going to let himself go down that easily. Theo shifted his weight from one side to the other, forcing the guard to lurch from one side to the other desperately trying to regain his steady footing. 

Theo felt two strong hands grab the back of his top, the other guard belatedly reacting to the situation and attempting to get Theo off of his colleague. The pull from the guard dragged Theo back with his arms still wrapped around the other guard. Immediately Theo let go of the guard, jumped off his back, knowing being wrapped around the guard would cause him to fall, and ran forward slightly to escape the grip of the other guard but just ended up being dragged backwards. 

The guard he had just jumped off turned and advanced on Theo, punching him in the stomach. Theo keeled over as the breath was knocked out of him. He could feel his body protest at the hell he was putting it through, but he ignored it and just stared up at the guard with a smirk before he lunged at the guard in front of him. He got a few solid punches in before he was being wrestled to the ground. He smirked as he was pinned down, satisfied at the blood he had drawn from the guard that had punched him. 

Now that he was pinned down and not fighting, Theo could see he had drawn a crowd. They were surrounding him and murmuring amongst themselves as they watched the scene. Distracted momentarily by the crowd, Theo felt the scratch of the needle before he saw the needle. He knew what it was. Theo counted to 30 in his head before he fell asleep. The last thing he saw was the bleeding face of the guard and Theo drifted off with a smile on his face. 

\---

Theo groaned as his eyes fluttered open, a wave of nausea washed over him and he dry heaved over the side of the bed, nothing actually coming up. His movements were slow and heavy, it felt as if there were weights tied to his body. Why did he feel this way? He settled back into bed and tried to recall what had happened, but it was hard. His head swam, a headache was forming, and he felt drowsy, sleep beckoning him back into its familiar lull. 

It seemed so attractive, but he shook his head, knowing he couldn’t go back to sleep again. He glanced around the room quickly trying to survey where he was, but his brain could only focus on the fact that it was just a small bedroom and that the walls were so white. The white of the walls disoriented him even more, hurting his eyes as he stared around the room. He closed his eyes blocking out the white and moved his arms to rub his face but abruptly paused when he felt something odd in his arm. 

Theo opened his eyes slowly and stared down at this arm. An IV was inserted into his forearm and he was hooked up to a bag of clear liquid. The events of the day flashed before his eyes and he remembered where he was – Eichen. He had been sedated for attacking his babysitters. With his new memories, he looked at the bag that was hooked up to him again. The bag wasn’t labelled, and he couldn’t be sure if it was only saline or something worse like one of their experimental drugs. Without a second thought, Theo pulled the IV out of his forearm. He hissed at the pain and grabbed at the bed sheets to cover his now bleeding forearm, pulling the IV out had not been one of his smartest moves but at least whatever they had been putting into his system had been stopped. He knew it would still take a while for it to leave his system though.

Theo pressed down on his forearm, watching the white bedsheets turn deep red with his blood. He stared at the white walls of the room and wished he was anywhere but there. Life on the run hadn’t been all that fun but it was infinitely better than being stuck in a room in the one place you wished you never had to go back to. He couldn’t understand how he was caught in the first place. 

He’d been on the run for a large part of his life and he had managed to evade the government for years and years but somehow he had been captured. Of course, it could have been pure luck on the government’s side – they had been getting closer and closer every time and he had been involved in a fight that had caught a lot of attention from locals. However, there would have been no way any of the locals would have known where he was staying, and his appearance had been different at the time.

The more he thought about it the more something didn’t add up in his mind. The red hair and blue eyes he had donned after the fight should have thrown any locals off and there was such a slim chance that the government got lucky and ended up at his door. No, something was off. 

Theo fell down a rabbit hole in his mind. 

The more and more he thought about the situation, the clearer the answer seemed although he refused to believe it. He refused to believe someone he had trusted had tipped the government off about where he was. But there was no other way the government could have found him so quickly. Theo cursed when he found he couldn’t refute the evidence in front of him. He had been betrayed by someone he had trusted enough to call a friend. He didn’t know who and he couldn’t understand why but he thought knowing why would probably hurt him even more. Besides, there was nothing more he could do now about it. He was at Eichen already and he couldn’t do much from inside the prison. 

But he wasn’t going to let Eichen break him, he wasn’t going to give up. He would find a way out of Eichen no matter what, just like his sister had done, and he planned to create as much disruption at Eichen while he could.

\---

Liam wasn’t often right about many things, but he had been right about the new patient he had seen wrestled to the ground the first day they had got there. Liam didn’t exactly want to boast about the fact that he had been right – he didn’t really have anyone to boast to and he wasn’t very happy about being right because it meant that the new patient was a complete menace and a huge disruption to Liam’s entire routine.

It had been bearable at first. There had been nothing he hadn’t seen other new patients do and they were all minor disturbances to his routine but disturbances, nonetheless. However, Liam could handle them.

Theo, as Liam had come to learn from gossip that circulated around Eichen – the name always on the tip of someone’s tongue -, picked fights with guards every opportunity he could. Liam noticed he took great pleasure in it and never stopped even though he was sedated almost every single time and dragged away like a dead carcass. He refused to eat for a whole week, a stunt that had him hooked to an IV by the end of the week and left him hobbling around after multiple rounds of ECT and experimental drugs being put into his system. Shockingly, that didn’t stop him from picking fights with guards again and again, although it was much easier for them to take him down. He constantly picked and incited fights with other patients, forcing the guards to lock all the patients in their rooms for the rest of the day. 

The disturbances to his routine were minimal and Liam had learned to adjust his routine around it all, but the disruptions went from days to weeks to an entire month of Theo picking fights, refusing to eat, ruining ECT equipment, stealing sedatives and using them on doctors and various other crazy schemes. He never gave up and all it took was a month for him to get Eichen to completely change everything. 

The entire regime had been changed overnight. Liam no longer heard the familiar electronic click of his door in the mornings, no longer saw the white-coated doctor, no longer got to walk the halls freely on his own, his room door stayed closed and he had to wait for a guard to open his door to lead him to and from breakfast, lunch, and dinner. His routine was gone. The one thing that had kept him grounded and calm for as long as he could remember was just gone and the new routine, the one where he had to stay locked up in his room, where he had to be collected for breakfast, lunch and dinner, he no longer got his pills the one where the only other time he was allowed to leave his room was for the experiments weren’t working for him. 

Liam wasn’t sure why, but it just didn’t. Ever since the changes, he had been feeling more irritable, his mind wouldn’t calm down, he sometimes felt tingly and had tremors and worst of all he could slowly feel the rage building up inside of him. He knew it was all Theo’s fault – he had stopped feeling this way years ago when the doctors had given him the routine. But it had all be brought back and Liam wishes the anger that settles in his chest and unnerves him would disappear.

\---

Theo had heard stories about Liam. Gossip travelled faster than light in Eichen - there wasn’t much else to do within the confines of Eichen. Stories of Liam always stayed upon the tip of someone’s tongue. He was a mystery to all at Eichen and there was little credible information about him. 

The few stories he had heard painted him as dangerous – a ‘high-level threat’. He had practically been tagged with an extra warning and the Eichen staff were always cautious around him as if he were some kind of ticking time bomb. But the Liam, Theo saw was reserved and cut off from the rest of the inmates. It seemed as if he purposely did so and Theo didn’t understand considering how inmates chose to gather together, more so now that Eichen only allowed inmates to gather at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, namely due to him. He didn’t look dangerous at all and he wasn’t treated any differently than the rest of the inmates. As far as Theo could see there was no basis for any of the stories, but he couldn’t discredit any of them considering that it was really all the information he had about Liam besides the fact that his power was supernatural strength and that he had been at Eichen for a very long time. The stories about Liam kept away all the inmates, all of them too scared to try to even approach him but that only made Theo even more interested.

Liam was a feat he would conquer when no one else could or would.

\---

It wasn’t long after that their paths crossed or rather Theo just walked right up to the table Liam usually sat alone at and sat right next to him as if he did it every day.

Liam flinched at the sudden feeling of a person so close to him and he couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Theo as if he were growing a second head. Theo, unbothered, just looked down at his food, clearly still not used to having to eat the sludge they were offered up as meals. A few seconds passed and Liam still hadn’t torn his eyes away from Theo. 

“Take a picture, it lasts longer,” there was a smirk on Theo’s face as he turned to, finally, look at Liam, amused by the shock on his face. Liam blinked, taking in the words and then his face twisted into a scowl. The initial shock of the situation had faded away at the sound of Theo talking and now he was just annoyed at the fact that Theo had chosen to sit next to him instead of somewhere else in the vast cafeteria. Liam turned back to look down at his meal, glaring at it as if it had personally offended him. Although, considering how disgusting the food was Theo wouldn’t have been surprised if it had personally offended him. 

“Although I can’t blame you. I am pretty attractive.” Theo playfully nudged Liam’s arm and he just moved his arm away. Theo silently chuckled, it was pretty easy to figure out how to push his buttons. “Oh, come on, no reaction? Huh, I can’t please everyone I guess.” Theo shrugged as he looked back down at his sludge. 

It was silent for a moment between them. Liam felt relieved for a second, his shoulders relaxing, thinking that Theo was just going to leave the conversation there. He closed his eyes, ignoring the presence of Theo.

“You know, I’ve heard interesting stories about you.” Liam’s eyes flew open and his shoulders tensed again. A smile played on Theo’s lips – it was so easy. Noticing Theo’s mocking smile, Liam quickly tried to recover from the shock and just focus on his food. Breakfast would be over soon, and he would be able to escape from Theo soon enough. Granted he could escape from Theo at that moment, all he had to do was give up his seat and leave, but Liam was too stubborn to give up his seat. He could see how much Theo revelled in annoying him and getting a reaction out of him and Liam was not about to let him win by moving seats. “What you’re not going to ask what I’ve heard about you?” Theo sighed an exaggerated sigh that was all show when Liam ignored him. “Fine, I guess I’ll just have to lead this conversation myself. It’s Liam, right?” Theo phrased it like a question even though he knew he wasn’t going to get an answer. “Anyway, I’m Theo although I guess you already know, gossip travels fast around here. People have got to keep themselves entertained in this prison, can’t really blame them…” 

Liam drowned out Theo’s voice, uninterested in anything he was going to say. Theo was just a nuisance and Liam didn’t want to deal with it, especially not when everything he said or did make Liam’s blood pump with anger. 

It was no surprise to Theo that as soon as breakfast ended Liam was out of his seat and out the door, away from him. It made Theo chuckle. Liam was a tough nut to crack. He didn’t give much away and he certainly didn’t talk much but Theo had never let that stop him before. He was going to figure Liam out no matter what.

\---

Theo doesn’t give up. He’s there the next breakfast and lunch and dinner. Wherever Liam is, Theo is, trying to have a conversation, testing out the water.

\---

Theo walked up to the table and sat down across from Liam. Theo opened his mouth, ready to talk but he never got the chance. Liam had frowned, pushed his tray of food aside, stood up and walked away. Theo could do nothing more than just stare as he watched Liam walk away. 

Stubbornness be damned, Liam wasn’t going to sit through another hour of having to listen to Theo talk.

\---

The only problem, Liam couldn’t walk away every time. He needed to eat too. At first, he tried just moving tables, but Theo just followed like an annoying gnat. He tried eating faster but with the food, Eichen served there was no way for Liam to do so without choking on the food or puking it all up. 

In the end, Liam just had to accept the situation. He listened to Theo’s pointless conversation and his continuous sarcastic comments, ignoring all the smirks Theo directed at him until his jaw hurt from being clenched for too long.

\---

“…they could at least make the food a little nicer,” Theo groaned as he rubbed his temples. Liam could see the marks the electroshock machines usually left after being used for a while on a person. Theo cursed as he closed his eyes, “What did those damn dread doctors do to me? It’s never usually this bad.” 

Liam just rolled his eyes, annoyed once again as he always was in the presence of Theo. He’d gotten used to Theo’s presence although the anger that accompanied any encounter with Theo never left. Liam watched as Theo groaned and cursed the ‘dread doctors’, as he called them, once again. Liam just huffed in annoyance before getting up and leaving – he didn’t have the time nor patience to deal with Theo.

\---

Liam didn’t understand why Theo got under his skin so easily. Every time Theo sat down next to him or across from him and said something that was always either infuriating or sarcastic or infuriatingly sarcastic, Liam could feel the anger bubbling under his skin. Every interaction with him took every inch of his being to not punch Theo but he managed pretty well to ignore Theo and keep that urge under control. But every interaction brought Liam closer and closer to losing that control and it hadn’t taken long for his self-control to break. 

One second, his fist was clenched under the table then the next it was hitting the table with enough force that he could feel the metal bending underneath his fist. Liam hadn’t even fully realised what he had done until he withdrew his hand, shaking. 

In front of him, on the table, there was a small dent the size of his fist staring at him, a testament to him losing control over his anger for just enough time to punch the table instead of Theo’s face. What had he done? What if he hadn’t chosen to punch the table instead of Theo’s face at the last second? He stared at the dent; eyes wide. It was deep. How had he even managed to do that? That couldn’t have been a regular punch. But his powers were supposed to be cut off when he was wearing the bracelets. He stared down at his shaking hands, the bracelets which usually were lit with blue light sat on his wrists now just a pale grey.

The fear ate at him, consuming him. This shouldn’t have been possible. He had safeguards, safeguards like the bracelets, protecting everyone from the monstrosity that he was and yet somehow that had all been broken down by just one person who had made him angry enough that he had broken through all of them. 

Liam looked at Theo, who just stared at him in shock not knowing what to say. He didn’t dare look around the room, he could only imagine the looks on their faces. Shock, fear, disgust. Liam had seen it all and he couldn’t see it again. His breathing quickened, coming out short and fast, and the room seemed to spin. He couldn’t have a repeat of what had happened before. 

The only people capable of helping him were the doctors at Eichen and Liam was going to allow them to do whatever was necessary to stop his powers – to stop him from hurting someone again. 

\---

Theo couldn’t believe what he had just seen. 

He had seen the punch coming, had expected it would be coming after all he had been pushing Liam’s buttons. It was a shock the punch hadn’t been aimed at his face, but it was even more of a shock to witness the blue of Liam’s bracelets flicker and then fade out as his punch hit the metal table. He had known Liam’s power was super strength, but it was one thing to hear about it and know it and a totally different thing to see it first-hand. The metal of the table easily bent under Liam’s fist like it was putty and the dent left behind was impressive. 

Even more impressive was the fact that Liam had managed to turn his cuffs off and use his powers. Theo couldn’t figure out how he had managed to do it. He knew that the bracelets were meant to dampen their powers and so far, he hadn’t figured out any way to bypass them. 

All his thoughts about how Liam had managed to override his bracelets were quelled when he noticed his handshaking. Liam looked down at his shaking hands with wide eyes, filled with fear and disgust. Theo had seen it clear as day behind his eyes as he had also looked at him for a second before he had hugged his hands close to his body and ran away, trying to avoid touching anyone near him as if he thought the mere act of his hands touching someone would hurt them, as if he couldn’t control his hands by his own volition. Theo knew that shortly after the outburst, Liam’s bracelets had started up again both of them glowing blue like they were supposed to. It seemed, however, that Liam hadn’t noticed or that even if he had he still didn’t trust himself enough.

Theo’s mind raced with thoughts, questions, and theories. He thought about Liam as he walked from the cafeteria to his room and he thought about Liam until sleep claimed him, although even then his dreams were laced with the image of Liam. 

\---

It’s raining, pouring actually. The sound of heavy breathing and feet slapping against wet concrete being drowned out by the heavy rain. There’s a crack of lightning, a single shape cracking down onto the top of the building. It illuminated the dark night for a second and Theo could see Eichen looming over him, almost threatening to swallow him up, even though he was far away from the building. He paused and just stared at the building in the distance. Eichen house. A building of horrors. A place he was finally leaving. 

“Theo, come on we’ve got to go.” A hand tugged at his, urging him to move. He turned and looked up to see his sister staring down at him. Her dark hair was stuck to her face, water dripping down her face and her breathing was laboured. Theo didn’t move – couldn’t move. He was frozen in place, staring up at his sister. Even in the rain, her eyes shone – bright and fierce. She tugged at his arm again. 

“Theo! Come on! If we don’t move they’ll catch us!” she shouted over the rain, the tugging starting to get painful, but Theo could only stare. It was Tara. It was her. Staring down at him, holding his hand like she used to when he was scared. There was a distant bark and Theo turned towards the sound, wondering what it was. There was shouting and more barking, his sister tugged more desperately at his hand now. 

“They’re coming! Run!” 

Suddenly, Theo was being dragged through a forest. Branches hit him in the face and his short legs stumbled, struggling to keep the pace his sister was going at. The shouting and barking were getting closer by the second, the trees were clearing away and now he was standing in a clearing. His sister stood in front of him, her feet planted firmly, arms spread out, protecting him. She was a pillar of strength. 

Until she wasn’t. 

A shot rang out. For a second it was deadly silent, the sound of birds fleeing in fear the only sound then Tara was falling to the ground, blood pooling onto the ground. Theo watched eyes wide as his sister lay on the ground, the blood reaching his shoes and then he ran. He ran as far as his little legs could, not stopping until he was sure he wasn’t being chased anymore. 

The rain had stopped. Everything suddenly seemed too bright. Theo collapsed in a heap at the base of a large tree, adrenaline leaving him. He was tired and scared. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree but the image of his sister on the ground blood pooling out around her was burned into the back of his eyelids. He opened his eyes and stared at his shoes; they were stained slightly. Red from his sisters’ blood. Tears streamed down his cheeks, landing unceremoniously on his t-shirt. He sobbed as he yanked his shoes off and threw them as far as he could. 

Theo stared up at the sky, hoping the sun would soothe his pain a little but there was no sun. There was nothing but blood red clouds that seemed to be darkening. Theo felt a drop on his cheek then another. He lifted a hand to his face, to wipe away the raindrop but his hand came away smeared red. Theo stared at his hand, puzzled. The skies opened and it was raining again, hard and fast. But it wasn’t water. Red droplets fell onto his clothes, his face, his hair – blood. 

He gasped and turned to run, to escape whatever hell he had fallen into. He came face to face with his sister. A bullet hole in her chest, her hair flattened to her face, skin pale, her clothes soaked in red. Theo jumped back, staring at Tara. Her eyes were blank, devoid of the fierceness she once held. She opened her mouth, slowly, an accusing finger moving to point at Theo. 

Theo knew the words that were going to come out of her mouth, had said them to himself many times before but it was always different coming from her and he winced, trying to prepare himself for it. The words never came. 

Theo gasped as he shot out of bed and he struggled to catch his breath as he tried to remind himself that the dream wasn’t real. Well, some of it. His heart was beating abnormally fast and his hands were clammy. His t-shirt stuck to his back, sweat making the fabric cling to him in an uncomfortable. 

When his breathing had calmed down, Theo surveyed his surroundings. It was still dark. Reluctantly, Theo laid back into bed and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before his eyes were open again – the image of his sister bleeding out in front of him fresh in his head again. He couldn’t forget the blood. Unable to fall asleep, Theo stayed up with just the thoughts of his sister to keep him company until the sun came up.

\---

Theo doesn’t give up on Liam, although Liam was doing everything in his power to avoid him. It didn’t make things any easier for Theo. It made it even harder than it already was – Eichen didn’t exactly give him free rein anymore after the shit he had pulled for fun. But he liked to push their boundaries, just like he liked to push Liam’s. 

The only times he gets to see Liam are during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dread doctors had changed all the inmate’s routines, forcing them all to stay within their rooms and come out only when they were escorted or when it was time for them to eat, quickly learning it was easier to control everyone in a smaller environment. 

Even with the limitation of his freedom, Theo made it a point to see Liam. He managed to sit with Liam every time he was in the cafeteria, making it a point to do as many things as he could to annoy Liam. He hoped for another angry outburst, wanted to see what would happen if he just pushed a little further. He knew it was wrong to want that, but he had seen Liam’s bracelets power down, had watched him use his power when no one else in Eichen could. He wanted to see whether it could happen again. 

Theo watched Liam like a hawk, with every sarcastic comment he looked for any sign of the anger he had seen before. But the more he pushed to get that anger to come out and the longer he watched Liam for, the more he noticed the clenched fists and jaws, the fear that flashed in his eyes and the quickened breathing. It was always as if Liam was fighting himself. And whenever Theo thought he was close to getting that anger to return, Liam would jump up and leave. 

As Theo watched the back of Liam’s head as he hurried away, he wondered. Wondered whether pushing Liam like he liked to push the Eichen staff was really a good idea. Theo had seen Liam’s anger up close, had seen what it could do but he had also seen what it did to Liam. He remembered the fear and disgust painted across his face, his shaking hands. His shaking hands mortified at what they had done, and Theo finally began to understand. Liam feared his powers. Liam was different from how Theo had first viewed him, he was more fragile and breakable than he looked on the outside. Theo remembered what it was like to feel that way. 

Theo had seen that same shock and disgust reflected back at him before on the faces of his parents. He hadn’t even meant to use his powers – it had been an accident and he didn’t even know he had done it. He had just wanted to stroke the neighbour’s golden retriever – how was he supposed to have known that touching the dog would turn his hair into golden locks identical to the dog’s silky fur. His mother had screamed when she found him, hands buried in the dog’s fur and his now golden hair falling over his eyes. It had only lasted an hour, his hair returning to normal but even so, his parents had not wanted to touch him for a while, fearful of what would happen if they did, and forcing him to wear gloves. It was only his sister who treated him normally, holding his hand without the gloves and laughing when Theo’s hair would grow to the length of hers. She had shown him her powers of emotional manipulation, had shown him that he could learn to control his powers, so he didn’t have to wear gloves. She had shown him that there was no reason he should fear his powers. 

Theo wanted to do that for Liam. 

He didn’t understand why Liam feared his powers so much and he didn’t even understand how Liam had managed to bypass his bracelets, but he knew he had to help Liam. The only problem was Theo didn’t know how to approach Liam at all. He had been pushing Liam to get angry since he first met Liam, he hadn’t realised it then, but he had been hurting Liam that entire time, and Liam probably knew that. Probably saw Theo as a villain and Theo had no idea how he was going to change Liam’s opinion about him at all.

\---

Theo tried to shake off the tiredness – he had stayed up most of the night thinking of how to talk to Liam and when he had fallen asleep he had been greeted with red skies and blood rain again, waking up before his sister spoke again but yet somehow the words he knew she was going to say echoed in his head the rest of the night. He was exhausted but he couldn’t falter. 

He took a deep breath in, strode to the table and sat across from Liam - he had to remind himself that he had done this many times before. His food tray clanged against the metal of the table. Liam didn’t flinch or look up, used to Theo’s presence. 

Theo stared at Liam for a while, his mind was suddenly blank. He had only ever approached Liam with sarcasm, intent to anger him, and it was tempting to just revert to that – it was much easier than trying to find the words to help Liam. Theo continued to stare at Liam, desperately trying to find the right words but nothing was coming to mind. He had been staring so long that, for the first time, Liam looked up to meet his eyes. Theo immediately looked down at his food. He hung his head. He had no idea what to say. 

Glumly, Theo picked up a spoonful of food and ate. He could still feel Liam’s questioning gaze on him, but he ignored it and ate until there wasn’t any food left, using it as an excuse to just stay silent.

\--- 

Liam wanted to roll his eyes as he heard the sound of Theo settling down into the seat in front of him. He doesn’t. He keeps his head down and his eyes on his food. He wasn’t going to pay attention to Theo and his annoying comments. He couldn’t afford to; his anger was becoming harder to control even outside his time with Theo. 

He heard the sound of the tray move on the table and felt Theo’s eyes on him. He prepared himself for a sarcastic comment – it was always some sarcastic comment – and took a deep breath in. But the sarcastic comment never comes. Neither does any other comment. It’s weird. Theo is silent but Liam could feel his eyes on him. 

Liam hates that he’s curious, Theo had never been silent once. He hates it even more that he lifts his head and meets Theo’s eyes. 

It’s the first time Liam notices that his eyes are a vivid green. He couldn’t remember the last time he had looked someone in the eyes, and it felt as if he was being drawn in by them. The odd spell was broken when Theo, surprisingly, looked down. Liam puzzled as he watched Theo begin to eat. He had never acted this way before and it was making Liam more curious than he should have been. 

Liam stared at Theo through breakfast, his eyes questioning as an awkward silence fell over the two of them.

\---

If his sister was still with him, she would have definitely called him an idiot for how he was acting and then she would have helped him come up with the words to talk to Liam. But his sister wasn’t around so Theo suffered in silence for a week. No matter how much he thought up it he couldn’t come up with the right words. 

\---

Liam was so sure that Theo would have returned to his normal self the next day, but he hadn’t. He had stayed silent, still choosing to sit with Liam but choosing not to speak but just to stare. For a whole week, Theo stayed silent and stared and Liam had begun to be less curious about it and more annoyed that Theo was acting weird. 

It was the 8th breakfast in a row that Theo hadn’t spoken. Liam looked up from his food as Theo sat down across from him. Again, Theo just stared at Liam, a conflicted look on his face. 

Liam was sick of seeing that face every time he looked up. He would rather have an annoying, talking Theo than a silent, staring Theo.

“Why have you been so quiet?” Liam demanded; annoyance evident in his voice. When Theo didn’t answer, Liam lifted his head. Theo looked at him with a mixture of shock and, weirdly, relief on his face as if he were glad Liam had initiated the conversation. It was the first time Liam had actually talked to Theo so maybe that was why. Liam watched as Theo shook his head and cleared his throat.

“Uh,” Liam had never heard him stutter and it took his aback slightly. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to start a conversation without being sarcastic, but I couldn’t.” 

“Why? You’ve been greatly enjoying making me angry with your sarcastic remarks for weeks. Why do you suddenly want to change?” Liam growled; he could feel the anger simmering in his chest. First, this guy takes pleasure in making him angry and now he suddenly wants to change his tune. What was he even hoping for? After weeks of pushing him to the edge and enjoying it and it was only now that he wanted to have a genuine conversation? That thought didn’t sit well with him. 

“About that…sorry,” Theo mumbled. He seemed reluctant to apologise but there was a look of regret on his face. 

“W-what?” Liam really couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. This was too out of character for Theo. Was this really the guy who had been annoying him for weeks now? 

“I’m sorry,” Theo repeated, looking at Liam with earnest. “It was wrong for me to push you to get angry and use your powers. There’s really no excuse for what I did, hell, if my sister were here she would probably kill me if she saw the way I had been acting.” He sighed and shook his head as if dispelling a bad memory. “Anyway, I shouldn’t have tried to make you use your powers, I never realised how much you feared them.” 

Liam had been close to forgiving Theo, he couldn’t lie. Everything about the apology seemed genuine and Theo’s eyes had a way of making Liam buckle under their gaze – something Liam still couldn’t bring himself to come to terms with. However, his last sentence immediately sent Liam back into defence mode. Liam shook his head. No. He refused to have this conversation. He never wanted to talk about it with anyone much less Theo, someone he barely knew yet someone who had figured him out so quickly. He stood up, ready to leave and never approach this conversation ever again. 

“You don’t need to fear them. You know that, right?” Theo’s words are awfully clear over the noise in the cafeteria. They make Liam stop dead in his tracks. Theo must have taken that to mean he should carry on talking. “I’ve seen the way you look at your hands, you think your powers make you dangerous. They don’t. Not when-” 

“You’re wrong.” He cut off Theo, hands clenched. He turned and looked down at Theo who looked up at him confused. “You’re wrong. My powers…they’re dangerous. They should be feared.”

Liam can see Theo open his mouth, ready to protest, but Liam walked off. He never wanted that conversation in the first place. It always brought up memories he had desperately tried to forget. He never wanted to open that can of worms. He wanted to keep it safely buried in his mind, in a place so far away it would never be touched again. Liam had had it safely buried. He loathed Theo for ever digging it back up. 

\---

It was a relief when Liam had started the conversation he had been struggling to start. He had to admit he was a little shocked Liam had initiated the conversation first but when he heard his annoyed tone, Theo assumed it was mostly because of all the staring he had been doing. Either way, it was his opening into a conversation and was going to take advantage of it. 

“Uh,” he stuttered – when did he ever stutter? “I’ve been trying to figure out how to start a conversation without being sarcastic, but I couldn’t.”

The words out of his mouth shocked him. They were oddly truthful and so straightforward. But he knew straightforward was the only way to go with Liam. Talking around the subject wasn’t going to work if he ever wanted to help Liam. 

Apologising was hard for Theo. He was reluctant but he had also been ashamed at the way he had acted. He couldn’t lie - he had revelled in being able to get Liam angry but that was before he had understood everything before he had seen the bigger picture. He thought of his sister as he spoke, shocked when he mentioned her, she would have been angry at the way he had acted. Nothing excused his behaviour and he shouldn’t have acted the way he did in the first place. 

Apologising was the first step to helping Liam. The second step was getting to the bottom of why Liam feared his powers and helping him come to terms with the idea that they weren’t dangerous. Liam, however, didn’t seem like he wanted to approach the subject at all. 

At the mention of him fearing his powers, he had immediately shut off and stood up to walk away. Theo panicked. What was he supposed to do? 

“You don’t need to fear them. You know that right?” the words had stopped Liam from walking away, much to Theo’s relief. He didn’t know what he would have done if they hadn’t and Liam had just walked off. “I’ve seen the way you look at your hands, you think your powers make you dangerous. They don’t. Not when-”

“You’re wrong.” Theo looked up, shocked that Liam had cut him off. The eyes that met his were stormy. “You’re wrong. My powers…they’re dangerous. They should be feared.”

Liam’s words were full of conviction – he firmly believed them to his core. 

Theo wanted to stand up, say he was wrong and make Liam believe his powers were the furthest thing from dangerous, but Liam had walked away. He had never cared this much about a person before, but he was reminded of himself when he looked into Liam’s eyes. 

He was going to help Liam.

\---

The nightmares don’t stop. They continue, only seeming to get worse each time.

Now he could hear the words straight from Tara’s blue lips, “It’s your fault I’m dead.”

\---  
Theo doesn’t give up on Liam. The conversation he had had with him had only served to motivate him even more. The very next day, Theo is sat across from Liam who refuses to look at him. 

“Why?” is all Theo says. 

“Why what?” Liam begrudgingly answers. Theo knew he would be curious enough to answer. 

“Why do you fear your powers?” Theo doesn’t falter, getting straight to the point. Liam sighed, rolling his eyes. 

“I’m not talking about this. Especially not with you.” The last sentence was filled with venom, rightfully so considering how Theo had treated Liam. He didn’t expect Liam to forgive him overnight. 

“You can control them. There’s no need to fear them.” 

Liam scoffed and shook his head as if Theo had suggested something absurd. 

“As I said, I’m not having this conversation with you,” Liam spat out before leaving. Theo sighed as he watched Liam walk away. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

\--- 

Theo had never had much patience for anything. He always wanted to get things done quickly and without hassle. That’s why it was so hard not to lose his cool, trying to get through to Liam. 

He tries and tries and tries, each time getting an even colder response. Liam still hadn’t entirely forgiven him for his behaviour and bringing up his fear of his powers only seemed to make Liam hate him even more. Each time, Theo wants to give. But he couldn’t shake the look of fear and disgust on Liam’s face out of his head – it haunted him at night while he sat in bed, just as much as the ghost of his sister did. So, he continued to try. 

The seat creaked as Theo lowered his weight onto it. He had only just sat down when Liam sighed deeply and stood up. He didn’t even wait till Theo had a chance to talk – he couldn’t allow Liam to leave without at least answering his question. A question he had had on his mind for a while now. 

Theo reached out and grabbed Liam’s hand, tugging him back lightly. 

(The image of his sister tugging at his hand in the rain flashed through his mind. The cursed words echoed in his head)

Liam looked down at the hand, surprise evident from his wide eyes. Theo met them with a determined look in his eyes.

“Why?”

Liam rolled his eyes.

“Not this again. I told you already, I’m not doing thi- “his voice sounded exasperated, tired of this subject. 

“Just answer me this. Why do you think your powers are dangerous?” Theo never stopped looking into Liam’s eyes, almost pleading for an answer. Liam looked taken aback, eyes flitting to his hand where Theo’s fingers were wrapped around his wrist. He was silent for a long time as if he was debating something in his head. He sighed then hung his head low, almost in defeat. 

Liam murmurs something, his voice barely above a whisper. Theo had to ask him to speak up, refusing to let go of his wrist in case he ran away.

“I’ve hurt people with them. People I love.” Liam’s voice cracked in the middle of the sentence and he closed his eyes. It looked like tears were threatening to fall and Theo stood up, worried. He took a small step towards him. 

That small action freaked Liam out. He yanked his wrist out of Theo’s fingers and ran before Theo could stop him.

It made sense now. Liam had hurt people with his powers. It made sense now why he was so hesitant and fearful about his powers. Liam saw them as a weapon he had to be fearful of, but Theo knew that if Liam just learned how to control it he wouldn’t have to be fearful.

Theo felt oddly defeated as he sat back down at the table. The vulnerability of Liam’s voice was fresh in his mind.

\---

Liam dropped his body onto his bed, drained from his conversation with Theo. 

The conversation with Theo. He regretted ever saying anything. Why had he even bothered telling Theo anything? He had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t talk about it, wouldn’t think about it, but Theo refused to give up. It felt like a joke having Theo tell him that he could control his powers, that he didn’t need to fear his powers, that they weren’t dangerous. 

He was sick of it. 

He knew his powers were dangerous, he had seen what they could do first-hand. He never wanted to see someone look at him the way his parents had ever again.

\---

Theo sat down across from Liam like he had done a million times before – it was practically routine by now.

The atmosphere between the two of them was heavy – an air of uncertainty hanging around. Theo had stayed up the entire night, partly due to nightmares but mostly he was thinking about whether he should bring up the topic that was hanging over their heads or not. He still wasn’t sure. 

In front of him, Liam was silent. He refused to meet Theo’s eyes. He hadn’t touched his food, totally unlike him. 

Theo had never really hurt anyone with his powers, he didn’t truly understand what Liam had been through fully and he couldn’t imagine how Liam had been dealing with it all those years. He wasn’t going to force Liam to talk about a situation that clearly brought back bad memories. He hadn’t given up on trying to help Liam – he just needed to first build some level of trust between them before trying to do anything more.

Theo doesn’t approach the subject at all rather he pretends as if it never happened at all. He would rather work towards getting Liam to treat him like a friend rather than bring up the past. 

However, that was easier said than done. 

\---

Theo tries. No one could say he wasn’t trying hard enough. He sat with Liam every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He walked with Liam to and from his room, a new addition to the routine once Eichen had relaxed after no disturbances from Theo for a while. But ever since that day, Liam had been detached. Theo could talk and talk but he had no idea whether Liam was focussing on the conversation. Even so, Theo continued to talk. It was a lot better than the heavy silence that threatened to fall between them whenever he wasn’t talking. 

Theo sighed as he looked at Liam again. His eyes were glazed over, a faraway look on his face. His mind was definitely somewhere else. He had been complaining about the food again – a topic that had been making a reappearance often. He complained about the dread doctors and the experiments. Familiar, light-hearted topics that he hoped Liam would respond to. He didn’t. Sometimes, Theo liked to talk about his time before he came to Eichen with his sister – that small part of his childhood had been good until it hadn’t. The change of topics didn’t seem to draw Liam from his head. He continued to talk, either way, hoping he would be able to draw Liam’s attention. 

\---

Liam didn’t get it. He didn’t understand why Theo hadn’t said anything to him about what he had said. He didn’t understand why Theo was still talking to him. He didn’t understand why Theo still followed him around. He didn’t understand any of it. 

It had slowly been eating away at him about how nonchalant Theo was about the entire situation. He hadn’t brought up the topic instead he talked to Liam like nothing had happened. It didn’t make any sense. 

Liam had seen people who had loved him unconditionally look at him with fear and disgust at what he could do but Theo, someone he barely knew, didn’t bat an eye at him. It didn’t make any sense. 

Why didn’t he react like everyone else would have and had reacted?

The question burned in his mind for days, itching to ask. It doesn’t take long for Liam to build up the courage to ask. 

“Why haven’t you said anything about what I told you?” he interrupted Theo mid-sentence, the words spilling out of his mouth. The words died in Theo’s mouth; his eyes widened slightly. He paused and tilted his head, confused. It was like he was having a hard time recalling what Liam was on about, but it only took a few seconds before recognition crossed his face.

“Oh, that.” Theo’s voice was flat as he resumed pushing his food around his plate. “What is there to say?”

The small question makes Liam lose it, breaking his usual unbothered demeanour. Yet again everything about Theo from his attitude to his words made Liam want to scream. 

“I don’t know! Something! Anything! You should at least be scared or disgusted at me, but you aren’t! You just treat me like I’m normal when I’m the furthest thing from it!” he shouted, having to physically restrain himself from jumping up.

Liam finished his sentence, slightly out of breath from the shouting. The noise within the cafeteria had died down, Liam’s shouting drawing their attention for a second but one look at Liam’s unhappy expression made everyone turn back to their trays of food. Liam didn’t care, he only wanted to understand Theo. But Theo’s expression was unreadable, and it made Liam want to scream.

It took Theo a minute to reply but when he did the words took Liam by surprise, “I don’t see any reason to be scared or disgusted by you. Do you?”

“Yes! Yes, I do! I’ve hurt people I love with my own hands! I’ve seen the fear in their eyes, the disgust that followed and I deserved it! I deserved it because it was my actions that brought on that fear, it was my actions that- “Liam couldn’t continue, breaking down. The memories were too painful to bring to life with words so he just closed his eyes and held his head in his hands. 

He hadn’t meant to do it – he never meant to do any of it. He never meant to punch a hole through his bedroom door. He never meant to break Mason’s arm. He never meant to land his mother in the hospital. He never meant for any of those things to happen. He barely even remembered doing any of the things he did, everything marred by the anger he had felt coursing in his veins and through his body. That overwhelming, all-consuming anger that Liam had fought to control, the same anger that Theo had brought back. No. The anger had always been there. Liam had just been denying its existence for so long, separating himself from anything that could trigger it, that the smallest thing like Theo had brought it all back.

“Did you do it on purpose?” Theo’s voice was oddly soft, the softest he had ever heard it, and Liam didn’t dare open his eyes, fearing the look on Theo’s face at seeing Liam come undone. He didn’t deserve such kind of behaviour. 

“I don’t know. I never know. I always end up hurting someone when I’m angry.” Liam didn’t know what was making him open up to Theo all of a sudden. 

He didn’t know when it had happened but somewhere along the line, Theo had managed to break down all of his barriers. Liam assumed it must have begun as soon as Theo had sat down next to him for the first time.

“So,” Theo paused, thinking over his words. “You only hurt people when you get angry?”

Liam opened his eyes to look at Theo who had leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. A deliberating look was on his face and he looked at Liam, eyes trained on his face. Liam just nodded, knowing that if he spoke he would break down again.

“You only lose control when you’re angry, so your anger is the root cause of the problem.” Liam knew that already; he’d been trying to deal with it ever since the incident. “The solution is simple.” 

“It is?” Liam looked at Theo, bewildered. If the solution was so simple why had he been struggling with this problem for so many years? Theo smirked back at him. 

“Yeah. Learn to control your anger then you learn to control your powers. Somewhat. Other things go into controlling your powers but controlling your emotions is linked to that. And I’m not saying controlling your anger is going to be easy but I’m pretty sure this is the simplest solution available.” Theo finished his sentence with a satisfied smirk, leaning forward and resting his arms on the metal table. Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did Theo really think that it was so simple? That he hadn’t been trying to do that very thing for most of his life? Liam’s face heats up at the fact that Theo thinks controlling his anger will work. 

“I don’t think you understand how my anger works. It can’t ever be as simple as just controlling my anger. My anger…it just takes control in an instant. I’ve spent most of my life trying to control my anger, it doesn’t work. You’ve seen it. That’s why I’m here. The only people who can help me are the doctors here at Eichen.” Liam looked down at his food, recalling the feeling of his anger. He shuddered. He needed to be at Eichen – they were the only people who could help him.

“That’s absurd. You can’t possibly think the dread doctors can help you,” Theo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You think subjecting yourself to experiments that do nothing but harm you will help? You could still learn to control your anger. Properly.”

Liam shook his head, “The doctors here are the only ones who can help me. Controlling my anger doesn’t work.”

“And, have they done anything to help you so far?” Theo deadpanned before pushing his chair back and leaving. 

Liam doesn’t know what else to do besides watch Theo go. The question left him stumped. Had Eichen helped him at all?

Liam had thought it was, he had had a routine, he had had his mysterious medication, he had had the necessary precautions in place to protect others from him and for the longest time he had thought his anger was gone but it wasn’t. In reality, it had always been there a ticking time bomb ready to explode and it had started to tick the moment he met Theo and it had almost exploded when Liam had surpassed his precautions and nearly punched Theo. 

Nothing at Eichen had helped him at all and Liam hadn’t realised it at all, content in believing that they could be the ones to help him, but the truth was that maybe they couldn’t. He didn’t entirely believe Theo could either. If Eichen couldn’t then there was no way Theo could - he was a lost cause. 

But there was no harm in trying.

\---

Theo wasn’t at Liam’s room door the next morning like he usually was. It felt odd for Liam to walk to the cafeteria alone. He wondered whether Theo had given up on him, but Theo was there, sat at their usual table. Liam could see him playing with his food like he always did, and he took a deep breath before walking over. 

“Teach me to control my anger…and my powers.” 

Theo looked up, a smirk playing on his lips. Liam hated that smirk and what it meant. 

“Well, well, well. We start tomorrow.”

\---

“You understand that you aren’t going to be able to control your anger in a day, right?” Theo sighed as he leaned back on his chair. 

“I know. But shouldn’t this be easier?” Liam gritted his teeth. Theo scoffed. There was no way it was ever going to be easy. Liam’s anger was explosive, he had seen it first-hand. Teaching him to control it and him learning to control it was hard work. 

“No, it shouldn’t. If it was then we probably weren’t doing it right.” Theo rolled his eyes when he saw Liam grit his teeth even harder. “Stop doing that. Now, what’s the first step to controlling your anger?” 

Liam sighed, bored that he had to answer the same question over and over again. 

“Identify specific situations, people or things that could trigger my anger.” 

Liam had managed to control his anger inside Eichen for such a long time by removing himself completely from all situations. That way he could keep his anger in check, there was nothing unexpected or new that could trigger his anger, but the world didn’t work that way. Theo knew there was always going to be something that might trigger Liam’s anger – he was a perfect example of it. If Liam continued the way he did then he would only end up not being able to deal with his anger when something did trigger him in the future. 

“Good. Now, what do you do if you come across one of these triggers?” Theo asked as he took a spoonful of sludge into his mouth. He grimaced, still not used to the food. 

“If I can, leave. If I can’t leave then I prepare myself to control my anger.” Liam’s answer was perfect. The idea having been drilled into his head enough times over breakfast, then lunch and now dinner. 

“Perfect!” Theo exclaimed, happy. He was no expert on how to teach Liam how to control his anger, but he had learned enough from other Inhuman’s to be able to help Liam. “Now, tonight you need to think of the stuff that could trigger you okay. And just have the list memorised for future use.” 

“What’s the use of being able to identify triggers when I won’t even know how to control my anger when something does happen?” Liam was itching to learn how to control his anger. Theo chuckled. 

“Liam, young grasshopper, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Besides, we’ll be going over some coping strategies and relaxation techniques tomorrow so come prepared.” He winked at Liam before leaving. He needed an early night, although he wasn’t sure he would be doing much sleeping. 

\---

“This is useless!” Liam exclaimed, banging the table with his fist. Theo sighed, hating that he had to agree with Liam. It was useless. It had been a week since he had started teaching Liam how to control his anger and Liam just couldn’t hack finding a coping technique that would keep his anger from bursting out. 

Theo knew he had been the one to say that Rome wasn’t built in a day but surely a building must have been built in a week. He knew it would take Liam a lot of practice to get a firm hold of his anger with his coping technique, but he assumed that Liam would find his coping technique much faster. 

Theo had tried everything he could think of. From breathing to counting to singing a song in his head to be his coping technique but none of them worked. None. It was almost like the universe was playing a joke on him. 

It was useless but he couldn’t let Liam know.

“It’s not useless. We’ll try the breathing exercises again,” Theo demanded, and Liam groaned, frustrated. 

“We’ve tried that three times now. It’s not going to work. What do you use to help you?” Liam looked at Theo, hopeful. Theo didn’t have anything to help him, he never needed anything to help him. His powers were pretty easy to control once he’d learned and he always managed to keep a level head. Although, he had met a few people in his time on the run who struggled to keep a level head. 

“I have something! A mantra. I don’t really need it and I’ve never really had to use it but when I was on the run, I met someone who used it to help him keep a level head. He had super strength, like you -how have I never thought about this before? -, was in high school and played a sport. He needed to keep a level head during games, so he learned a Buddhist mantra. I’m not sure whether it will work or not, but we should try it out anyway.” Theo cursed himself – how had he never thought about this before? It fit Liam’s situation almost perfectly. 

“Well, what’s the mantra?” Liam asked, eager to try it out. He hoped that it would be the one to work.

“Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” Theo recites the mantra to Liam. 

“Isn’t that kind of long?” 

Theo let out an exasperated sigh.

“Does it matter? You can shorten it to just the sun, the moon, the truth if you want. I don’t really care. As long as it succeeds in helping you calm down.” He was beginning to get impatient, eager to see whether it would work. Of course, Theo had to test it. 

Figuring out how to test the coping mechanisms had been hard but Theo had found that the easiest way to test it out was by getting Liam angry. Getting Liam angry was easy, he had done it before but this time he did it with the permission of Liam. It took minimal effort from Theo, just a few small comments and he could see Liam clenching his fists. Theo expected a reaction like there had been every other time they had tested a coping technique, but there was none. 

It looked like it was taking all of Liam’s effort, but he had managed to keep his anger under control. Even if it was only for a short period, it was good. It was a step in the right direction. 

“It worked!” Liam beamed at Theo and Theo couldn’t help but smile back. 

“It worked. But don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s going to take a lot of practice before you’re going to be able to properly control your anger.” The smile of Liam’s face dimmed a bit. “However, this is a step in the right direction. Don’t forget that.” 

\---

Ever since discovering Liam’s coping technique, they had been practicing. Liam was still nowhere close to having complete control over his anger, but he had made tons of progress in just a few days. Breakfasts and lunches are dedicated to practicing, but dinners were free and ever since Theo had started teaching Liam, Liam had started talking more. 

“When will you be able to teach me how to control my powers?” Liam asked, out of the blue. Theo grimaced, he had hoped to avoid that topic for a while, but it seemed that Liam was eager. 

“About that…” Theo trailed off, trying to find the right words before deciding to just give the hard facts. “I won’t be able to teach you to control your powers. At least not from inside Eichen.” 

It was practically impossible and no matter how hard Theo thought about it there was no way around it. They were constantly being watched by guards, they could only ever meet in the cafeteria which was a busy area and their power dampening bracelets rendered their powers completely useless. 

The look of Liam’s face makes Theo feel guilty. He didn’t want to let Liam down, but he had no choice but to. 

“Look, controlling your anger is the first step towards controlling your powers so in a way you are already learning to control your powers. It’s not the same as actually learning to control your powers but there is no way for us to do that in here.” Theo glances at the walls in disdain. For the first time, Liam does the same. The walls of Eichen finally looked different to him. 

\---

Things are different after that conversation. 

Maybe it was hearing the stories Theo told of his time outside of Eichen or that the more he learned to control his anger the more he felt that he didn’t need to be Eichen. Things were just different. Hearing stories of the outside world made him yearn for it, yearn for the world he had not been a part of for so long. 

He was finally beginning to wake up.

\---

Theo buried his head in his hands, closing his eyes and cherishing the few seconds of rest with his eyes closed before he yawned and looked back up at Liam. He was exhausted. He had been up another night, the nightmares refusing to leave. The effects of little to no sleep coupled with the harsh experiments the dread doctors carried out had started to take a toll on his body. He rarely had the energy to talk during his meals, it was hard to think when he had a pounding headache, with Liam and he was relieved that Liam had begun leading the conversations. His appearance had taken a hit as well. Putting it nicely, he looked haggard. He had dark circles and pale skin – he looked sickly. It also didn’t help that he had been struggling to keep his eyes open as of late. 

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?” Liam’s voice snapped Theo out of his thoughts, and he forced his eyes to open a little wider. 

He sluggishly nodded, “Mhm, something about…uh…”

“Are you okay? You’ve been spaced out lately and you look like shit.” Liam gave Theo a concerned look. Theo shook his head. 

“Just nightmares. I haven’t been able to sleep properly. It’s really nothing.” He rubbed his face with his hands, waking himself up. 

“It’s not nothing when you can’t even focus. What are the nightmares about?” 

Theo inwardly sighed. He really didn’t want to talk about this topic. 

“My sister.” His answer is short, and he hoped it was enough to get Liam to stop prying but he just cocks his head, curious.

“Your sister? You don’t mention her often.” 

This time Theo sighs out loud. 

“There’s a reason I don’t.” Theo’s answers are clipped and if it had been anyone else he was talking to they would have dropped the topic, noticing the hint in his voice that the conversation was over. 

“Why? What are your nightmares about?” Liam is relentless, completely refusing to drop the subject and Theo knew the only way to get him to drop it was to tell Liam about his past. He would never usually tell someone about his past. He would rather have his past hidden than laid out bare for someone to delve into. Theo could count the number of people he had told about his past on just one hand. However, he didn’t particularly want to admit it out loud, but he had grown closer to Liam. 

“She died. She was shot by an Eichen guard when we were escaping, right in front of me.” Theo’s voice is sombre and when he looks at Liam he could see that his lips were forming a silent ‘oh’. He chuckled slightly at the reaction. Liam swallowed.

“I’m sorry.” The look on Liam’s face showed he was clueless on how to act. It was clear he had never been in a situation like the one he was in. Theo shook his head. 

“What are you apologising for? It isn’t your fault she’s dead. No. That falls on me. I’m the reason she’s dead,” Theo laughed mockingly. He had never admitted that out loud but looking at Liam gave him the courage to admit the one thing he had been struggling with his whole life. It felt good to be saying it to someone. He had never thought that he would trust someone as much as he had trusted his sister but he weirdly trusted Liam, in a way that was totally unlike the trust he had with his sister yet somehow similar and in a way that made no real sense to him. “It was my fault and ever since I’ve come back here she haunts me in my dreams.” 

“And, you know, after I had escaped having to leave my sister behind I ended up in this alleyway. I was completely exhausted and drained. I had just lost my sister. Tara- she was everything to me back then. She had been with me through the absolute worst and I was suddenly without her so of course, I cried. I was mourning my sister, but you know what the messed-up thing was? They were tears of relief as well. I was relieved I had made it out of Eichen.” Theo gave a cynical smile however sadness seeped through, marring the expression. The guilt that accompanied the memory hurt – his sister had been killed in front of him and he had been relieved he had escaped. He couldn’t forgive himself for any of it. 

Liam was silent. Theo wasn’t surprised. He knew there were no words that could make the situation better or any different. Nothing that could make him forgive himself.

“That isn’t messed up.” Theo looked at Liam, shocked. What was he even saying? “You were just a kid when this happened right? Isn’t it only normal for you to be relieved to have escaped a place you hated? Also, why are you blaming yourself for her death? You didn’t shoot her, the Eichen guards did so they’re to blame.” 

“But if I hadn’t delayed our escape the guards would never have caught up and Tara would still be alive today.”

“You don’t know that. Everything could have gone perfectly, and your sister might still have ended up being shot or you both might have been shocked. There are so many what-ifs that you would never really know the outcome of the situation would have actually been,” Liam countered. “Besides, you’re the only one blaming yourself. Your sister wouldn’t want that would she? It seems like a waste of the hard work she put into getting you out in the first place.” 

Theo knew Liam was right. He had always known it deep down, but it was funny how hearing those words from someone else finally made him realise it. 

\---

It’s over breakfast a few days later that Theo realised that maybe he liked Liam more than he wanted to admit. He didn’t know when it had happened, but it had. If he ever lost Liam like he lost his sister he didn’t know what he would do. The thought of losing Liam lingered at the back of his mind the entire day until he hit the bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

\---

Liam didn’t usually stay up past lights out, sleep usually claiming him pretty early. But he couldn’t help that his mind had been buzzing lately, restless. Every day he had been getting better at controlling his anger, every day he got closer to being able to control his powers, but he could never really get there. It frustrated him. He finally understood his powers thanks to Theo, and he couldn’t even use them. 

Theo.

He was another story altogether. Liam had started off hating him – the very idea of him setting him off. However now, Theo was part of the reason he was able to keep his anger in check. At first, the mantra had been an effective coping technique but the more he got to know Theo and the closer they got Liam had been using Theo as an anchor – keeping him grounded and calm. It had been more effective than the mantra ever had been. 

For once, Liam was beginning to feel something akin to happiness with Theo. But he knew Theo wasn’t. 

He had heard countless stories about Theo’s time outside of Eichen from him. Theo was different when he talked about the outside world. He was happier, freer. It made Liam’s heartache to experience the same thing and to have Theo experience that again. The thought of Theo being confined to the walls of Eichen didn’t sit well with him. 

If only he and Theo could escape. They would both be happier, and Liam could finally learn to control his powers properly. Liam didn’t know if they could make it happen, but he was going to try. For Theo and for himself. 

\---

Liam was quiet the next day at breakfast, prompting a curious look from Theo when he sat down across from him. As soon as Theo was in his seat, Liam leaned in closer.

“I want to break out of Eichen. With you,” Liam said in a hushed voice. Theo almost spat his food out, looking at Liam with wide eyes. Liam could tell that he was wondering whether he had heard right and if he had then Liam was crazy for suggesting such a thing. 

“You what?!?” Theo’s voice was an octave higher than usual, completely incredulous.

“I want to break out of Eichen. With you.” Liam repeated, voice calm and eyes determined. Theo shook his head, trying to dispel the shock.

“What?” Theo’s voice was louder than usual, and he eyed the cafeteria to see whether anyone was paying attention to them before continuing “Why?” his voice lowered a bit. 

“Because outside of Eichen, I can learn how to control my powers. You can be free like your sister wanted. You can be happy out there. If we break out of here that can happen.” Liam was fired up, passionate about breaking out of Eichen with Theo. He had never wanted something more. He wanted it even more than he had wanted to get rid of his powers after the incident. Theo still looked at him like he was crazy.

“What’s gotten into you? Are you crazy?” Theo shook his head. “No. Nope. No. There’s no way I’m on board with this. There’s no way I’m letting this happen.” Theo’s voice is firm, absolute. He wasn’t going to accept the idea. The smile of Liam’s face fell, crestfallen. Theo ignored him and just turned back to his food as if you signal that he wasn’t going to continue having the conversation. 

Liam didn’t understand why Theo was so opposed to the idea. He thought that it was what Theo would have wanted, would have been the first one to jump on the idea. Liam knew he hated Eichen House, he constantly complained about it and he knew that it was a place filled with the ghost of his sister. Why would he not want to leave? 

“Why are you so opposed to this?” Liam whispered harshly, his sadness turning into anger. Did Theo not want to be free? Did he not want to leave with Liam? “This is something you’ve wanted for a long time. I know it.” 

“Liam it’s too dangerous and it’s a dumb idea. Do you even have a plan?” Theo sighed and refused to look up from his food. This only made Liam’s blood boil. 

“No, but I can think of one. We can think of one. Together. When has a little danger ever stopped you, what’s the real reason you don’t want to do this?” Liam’s voice bordered on desperation, practically pleading. Theo was just silent as he looked up to stare at Liam. 

“Look, just drop it, Liam. It’s not a good idea.” Theo sighed again, clearly tired of the conversation. But it only made Liam angrier. He leaned forward; his face close to Theo’s.

“No. You know what, you might not want this for whatever reason, but I do. It’s the first thing I’ve wanted in a long time and I intend to leave whether it’s with or without you. So, come talk to me when you’ve got your senses back and want to leave with me.” Liam stood up harshly, the force from pushing his chair back making his chair fall back and hit the floor with a long clang. He didn’t care. He had meant what he said, he wanted to leave. He would have preferred to leave with Theo but if he was going to refuse then Liam was just going to do it on his own. 

\---

Theo had never seen Liam as fired up about something as he had been about escaping Eichen with him. But Theo couldn’t let Liam do it. He couldn’t. It was dangerous and stupid, and he didn’t know the outside world at all. But ever since he had told Liam not to do it and he had decided to do it anyway, Theo couldn’t seem to get through to Liam.

“Liam don’t do this. It isn’t a good idea.” Theo pleaded, trying to make Liam see the dangers of his plan. “They must have upgraded the security from the last time I was here, this place must be practically impossible to escape from. Don’t do it.”

Liam looked at him, bored.

“Have you decided you want to leave with me?”

Theo wanted to scream but he just shook his head.

“Thought so.” Liam rolled his eyes and left. 

\---

“Liam, seriously please don’t do this. My sister died when we escaped. It isn’t safe.” Theo was begging at this point, desperate to get him to stop. Liam wouldn’t let up and just glared at him.

“No! I’m doing this no matter what. I don’t care if I die trying. It’s better than having to sit in here another day.” Liam’s voice was firm as he continued to glare at Theo. 

Theo’s eyes widened at his words, his face paling. How could Liam even say something like that? His blood boiled, anger overtaking him.

“But, I care!” Theo did everything not to scream the words. “I care if you die doing this!”

“What?” Liam looked at him, baffled. Theo couldn’t believe he had to spell this out for Liam. 

“I care if you die trying.” His voice cracked, slightly. “God, Liam, don’t you get it? My sister died trying to escape from this place, I don’t want the same thing to happen to you. I don’t want another person I care about to die in front of me. That’s why I don’t want you to do this. That’s why I didn’t want to join you in the first place.” Theo took in a deep breath; his hands shook slightly as he spoke. “Liam, I want to escape from here just as much as you but it’s not worth our lives. I’d rather have you alive and me in here, than you dead and me out there.”

\---

The words take Liam by surprise. Theo cared for him and he didn’t want to lose Liam just like he had lost his sister. Liam finally understood why Theo refused to escape with him. It made perfect sense. But Liam wasn’t about to give up. He understood where Theo was coming from, but Liam wanted – needed – to escape from Eichen and he needed to do with Theo. 

“We might not die.” Liam begins, looking into Theo’s eyes. “We might not die. I might not die doing this.” 

“But you could. That’s the point, Liam. I’d rather have you safe.”

“I get that,” Liam’s voice is soft. “I get that, but I might not. We could make it, be free like you were before. We could be happy out there instead of miserable in here. Don’t you think our happiness is worth that risk? Your sister did, don’t you think we should?” The eyes staring back at Liam’s blink, tears threatened to fall. It was silent between them for a long time, neither breaking it until Theo finally sighed. 

“My sister died for my happiness, my freedom. I’m still not sure whether it was really worth it, but she believed it was and you believe it is so fine. I’ll escape with you.” 

Liam’s face almost split from the smile that covered his face. Theo rolled his eyes playfully and scoffed, “Don’t think I’m dying for you though.”

Liam laughed, “Don’t think I’m dying for you either.”

\---

“Do you have any practical skills?” Theo questioned; they had been trying to come up with different plans of escape, but it was harder than it looked. He didn’t know how his sister had done it. There were so many variables to take into account and so far they only had a few solid plans.

“Not really.” Liam shrugged. Theo felt like facepalming. 

“None? Whatsoever? What do you have to bring to the table then?” 

“I know the ins and outs of this place and that’s it. I have my super strength but that’s off the table with these bracelets,” Liam offered, and Theo nodded. Security had relaxed ever since he had stopped being a nuisance and Eichen had started working in a routine again. It made things a little easier. 

“I wouldn’t rule out your super strength so soon. You managed to bypass those bracelets once before, would you be able to do it again?” Theo remembered the time Liam had gotten mad and punched the metal table, denting it. There was still a dent there. 

“I don’t think so.” Liam shook his head and stared at his bracelets. “I’m not sure how I did it the first time.” 

“Your anger. That’s how you did it. We could use it if we needed to and if you could actually do it again but I’d rather we not rely on it. So, we’ll just go with the original plan. You know what to do right?” Theo felt his stomach turnover as he asked the question. So much could go wrong and there was so much at risk. The anxiety didn’t fade when Liam nodded his head. 

“Do you think the plan will work? That we can escape?” Liam asked, mirroring the expression of worry Theo knew he had on his face. 

“Truthfully, I don’t know. But it’s all or nothing and I believe we can do this!”

\---

Theo should have known something would go wrong. He should have seen it coming from a mile away. It was never going to be easy. It had been going smoothly, to begin with, too smoothly, it was like the calm before the storm. And boy was there a storm in store for them. 

“They’re coming! Run!” Theo heard Liam scream from somewhere next to him. He didn’t dare look over. He knew if he did he’d lose his footing and fall over. Their feet fell on crisp leaves and twigs, creating more and more noise as they ran. Theo heard the distant bark of a dog and shouting, his legs pushed him to run faster. Branches hit him in the face, and he stumbled, almost falling but strong arms caught him. Liam.

“We’ve got to keep moving.” He was out of breath and sweating; Theo was none the better. The shouting and barking were getting closer by the second and the two broke out into a run again, the trees were beginning to sparse out until they were running across a vast clearing. 

The scene was eerily familiar. The same forest, at the same time, the same situation. It brought him back to the day his sister died, and Theo wondered whether history was going to repeat itself. He couldn’t let that happen. Theo spared a glance over his shoulder and he could see the Eichen guards were right behind him, his heart almost stopped. He hadn’t been able to prevent his sister’s death, but if it came down to it he was going to protect Liam now – no matter what. 

It was funny how life seemed to work in circles.

Theo saw the shot being aimed at Liam and without a second thought he rushed forward determined not to have a repeat of his sister. Theo tackled Liam, grunting in pain as they landed hard on the ground. He heard Liam groan and say something, but he couldn’t focus on the words. 

There was an unbearable pain in his shoulder, and it felt uncomfortably warm. What was going on? He gasped as Liam rolled him off his body, pain erupted on the right side of his body. Had he broken his arm? Why did it hurt so much? He stared up at the sky. It was so bright. He blinked. 

“-eo! Theo!” 

Theo’s head turned towards the shout. He forced himself to focus on the frantic, worried expression on Liam’s face. In the background, he could hear the barks of dogs and the shouting of men, but he could only focus on the tears threatening to fall from Liam’s eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Theo croaked out as he blinked again, his eyes going out of focus. Liam didn’t answer, instead, he pressed down on his shoulder and Theo groaned. It hurt so much. He glanced down at his shoulder. Blood. He had been shot. That wasn’t ideal but at least it wasn’t Liam was all Theo could think. Theo wondered if this was how his sister had felt when she had been shot. That mixture of sadness and relief. It was funny how life worked in circles because there he was dying in the same clearing for the same reason just like his sister had.

“Liam,” his voice was coarse and scratchy. Liam looked down at him, worried. “Liam, go. They’ll capture you again if you don’t leave.” 

Liam vehemently shook his head, he refused to leave his side. 

“You aren’t dying. We’re escaping together or not at all. I’ll carry you.”

Theo couldn’t help but smile. 

“Don’t be stupid Liam. Leave. You can’t carry me and run besides,” Theo paused for a second, swallowing. “you’ll be fine without me. Just go.” 

Theo could hear the barks and shouting clearer than ever, they had caught up. If Liam didn’t leave he would never have a chance of escaping. Theo looked up at Liam who was gritting his teeth and refusing to stop putting pressure on the gunshot. Slowly, Theo wrestled his hands off the wound. Liam put up a small fight, but he seemed defeated. Theo kept a hold of his hand. 

“It’s okay, Liam. Leave. Be free for me, like I was free for my sister.” Theo whispered. He was beginning to feel lightheaded and he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to stay awake, his eyes drooping. He looked at Liam who furiously held back tears. 

“No. This isn’t how it's supposed to be. It was supposed to be the two of us! You were supposed to be free with me!” Liam’s tone was angry, clipped but angry. Theo could tell. He saw Liam raise his fist, aiming to hit the ground in frustration before his eyes closed, the grip on Liam’s other hand going slack. 

\---

Theo woke up with a pounding headache to a white ceiling. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. Where was he? For a second, he wondered whether he was back at Eichen House. Had he been captured again? If he had, he hoped Liam was not there, he hoped Liam had escaped when he had the chance. He didn’t know what he would do if Liam had been caught. He tried to sit up but immediately fell back when pain shot up his shoulder. Theo groaned and decided to look around the room from where he was laid in bed. 

He wasn’t at Eichen that was for sure. Where was he exactly? The room looked like a typical bedroom. It was less decorated than a typical bedroom, but it seemed like the guest bedroom of a house. 

He attempted to sit up again, but he couldn’t. Theo resigned to just lay in bed, staring at the unfamiliar surroundings. He noticed that Liam was sat next to the bed, the top half of his body rested on the floral printed duvet with his head nestled in between the crook of his arm. The sight made Theo let out a breath of relief that he hadn’t realised he had been holding in.

Liam looked peaceful; all the worry was gone from his face. Theo reached out a hand to brush Liam’s hair out of his face. His hair was soft, and his face was so peaceful, Theo couldn’t help but let his fingers brush over his cheek for a second before he paused. He didn’t want to disturb Liam’s sleep – they had been through a lot, his heart ached as he remembered the tears in Liam’s eyes when he had been shot. Theo flinched when Liam began to stir, drawing his hand back quickly as Liam yawned and looked at Theo. 

“You’re awake!” Liam’s face brightened as soon as he saw Theo and Theo couldn’t help but smile, a warmth building in his chest. He thought he saw Liam give out a small breath of relief, his shoulders slumping the tension leaving them, before returning a smile that made his eyes shine with happiness. The warmth in Theo’s chest grew – when had he last felt like this? 

“Where are we?” Theo questioned, trying to sit up again. Liam helped this time and his hands felt hot on Theo’s bare skin, leaving Theo’s cheeks slightly flushed. He propped up the pillow for Theo to lean against before he sat down on the edge of the bed. 

“We’re at Scott’s house,” Liam said as he ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up. Theo did all he could to ignore the action and focus on the questions he had. 

“Who’s house?”

“Scott McCall. He’s a part of this underground movement for Inhumans.” Liam explained, moving slightly closer to Theo on the bed. “He found me after the aftermath at the clearing.”

“About that, what happened? How am I still alive? How aren’t we back at Eichen?” Theo’s head spun with all the questions he had and from the sudden closeness as Liam reached out to fix his hair for him. Theo held his breath for a second. 

“Yeah, I ended up using my super strength. You were right about using my anger to bypass the bracelet. Turns out that if you hit the ground hard enough you can mimic an earthquake.” Liam chuckled. “My hand is pretty bruised up now though. Scott’s mom says it’s a wonder I didn’t break any bones.” Liam held up his bandaged hand and Theo just shook his head, shocked at the turn of events. 

“What happened after that?” 

“Well, my earthquake trick managed to give me enough time to get away with you. I didn’t manage to get very far. You’re heavy. That’s when Scott found me by then you were so close to death, you bled out a lot, that we worried you wouldn’t survive being brought back to the house.” Liam shuddered as he remembered the memory, he hoped he would never have to see that sight ever again. Theo, instinctively, felt like reaching out to hold his hand like he had done when he had been shot. His arm reached out, without his permission, aching to hold Liam’s hand but he pulled it back abruptly. “But we managed to get you here in time and Scott’s mom patched you up. She’s a nurse.” Liam glanced at Theo’s bandaged shoulder; eyes lingering. Theo could only nod as he tried to process the information. 

“Wow, okay. We did it. We managed to escape.” The realisation only hitting him then. 

“Barely! You almost died taking that shot for me! What were you thinking?” Liam glared at Theo, moving even closer to him on the bed. The heat from Liam’s body seeped through the duvet. “What happened to ‘I’m not dying for you’ huh? Why did you suddenly decide to play the hero?”

Theo couldn’t help but smile, a chuckle escaping his lips. He had no regrets about what had happened. If it meant saving Liam then he would do it again a million times over. 

“I would do it again. If it came down to it, I’d save you every time. Besides who else is going to be around to save you anyway?” 

Theo took Liam’s hand into his and held on tight.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh this is my first time writing for this fandom and my first time participating in a reverse big bang hopefully people have enjoyed this
> 
> Also a big thank you to Mary, my lovely artist, who created the masterpiece that led to this fic. Without her, this fic really wouldn't have come out the way it did. Please check out her tumblr and art [here](https://underthegallowws.tumblr.com)  
> 


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